This invention relates to communications sent through a power distribution network; and, more particularly, to a point-to-point communications system by which information is readily transmitted from any one location within the power distribution network to any other location within the network.
Power line communications systems are known in the art. A typical system enables a utility to send messages over its power line to or from a central location such as a sub-station to most, if not all, of its customers connected to that site. The messages involve such things as current electrical usage at the customer's site, polling requests to determine whether or not an outage has occurred within a service area, or commands to reduce or shut-off the amount of power provided to a load at the customers site during periods of peak electrical usage. Replies received from the various locations to which messages are sent enable the utility to determine its current operational status, as well as changes that may need to be made to reconfigure the power distribution system for changes (or prospective changes) in its operating circumstances.
Electrical usage has grown significantly in recent years so that, over time, the demands placed on utilities has greatly increased and many utilities are now hard pressed to maintain adequate levels of service to their customers. Similarly, the demands placed on current communications systems employed by these utilities to support their operations have also greatly increased to the point where it has become difficult for these systems to timely provide the information necessary for the utility to operate at the level at which it needs to operate. For example, the amount of information required by the utility, on an almost continuous basis, has expanded to the point where the information throughput (data transmission rates) required of communications systems is at, or near the limits of the communications system's capabilities.
Installing, maintaining, and upgrading these communication systems is both time consuming and expensive. Some systems require, for example, routers, repeaters, or boosters spaced at intervals throughout the power distribution network to insure that a sufficient signal level is maintained that the transmitted information can be recovered at the receiving end. In addition, operation of some systems produces undesirable side effects which can be annoying to customers of a utility.
The present invention is directed to a point-to-point communications system that addresses these and other problems of existing communication systems.